1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to methods for evaluating patent portfolio and related systems, and more particularly, to a method for analyzing relationship between patent family member and its claimed priority to evaluate patent portfolio, and a related system.
2. Description of Related Art
While a company faces many competitors, besides increasing research budget, a method for raising competitiveness of itself by transforming intangible technique idea to patent is quite important. If the company would enter a market of some products, it should perform patent portfolio with respect to the products first. Besides understanding techniques of the competitor to avoid infringement, the company may clearly know what's its core techniques and focus on developing the core techniques, thereby enhancing its patent territory and obtaining great benefits.
The so-called patent portfolio is to file patent applications around with plan and purpose and to form patent family based on all relevant patent applications at each place. Generally, if a company lacks perfect patent portfolio, the patent enforcing effect may decrease. When the company cooperates with other enterprises, poor patent portfolio may result in decreased licensing counter. Furthermore, relevant techniques have difficult to continue innovation or realize its marker value. Hence, in terms of company technique research or market development later, well patent portfolio will generate more benefits.
The utilization of the previously mentioned patent family is very wide. It may realize market value of portfolio of other companies through patent family. Furthermore, value of the patent may be clearly known through patent family. Generally, if a patent is not important, a company dose not have to spend huge money for global patent portfolio, that is, the size of patent family members is one of indications of that if the patent is important or not. Moreover, when a patent is proceeding licensing or transaction, it will facilitate to raise negotiation counter if patent portfolio spans many countries.
Citation relationship is discussed in prior patent portfolio. When there is a citation relationship between a plurality of patents, it may construct patent citation network (PCN). Of course, it comprises self-citation of the same company and mutual citation of different companies therein. It may observe that patent citation condition and its market value through PCN, wherein a patent being frequently cited often has more benefits. Additionally, observing network structure of patent citation may know that which of company cites some patents or the condition that some patent is cited by its own company or other companies and therefore, may not only know the importance of patent but also judge development tendency of patent techniques.
However, patent citation is under consideration of discussing citation relationship between patents in a view of external analysis point. Using PCN for analysis may observe and know possible market value of patents of a company while there still exists a troublesome problem that it is uncertain whether patent may be transformed to effective financial capital or not.
In conclusion, a single patent has lower value and is hard to be evaluated for its overall usefulness. In contrast, it clearly judges current development situation and future direction of some technique field better through portfolio of a plurality of patents. Therefore, it is an important issue for a company to find out patent portfolio with high value, high importance and high techniques so as to perform patent licensing, strategy alliance and even to discover potential infringers.